59: Fraud

Before Ning even entered the village, he saw someone walking towards him. He thought, "They can see me from this far, right?"

"Inikaka, are you alright?" The Chief was the first to arrive at the location, so he immediately asked him.

"Hmm, I'm fine, my head doesn't hurt anymore," Ning said softly, still worried about how the Villagers would see him.

"Inikaka, what happened to you? I thought you would help us fight the demon, but you just stood there doing nothing. Instead, you had a terrible headache, and we had to bring you back," the Chief asked.

"I..." Ning froze. He had nothing good to say now to get out of this situation, so he just told them the truth. "I was scared," Ning said.

"Scared? You, Inikaka?" The Chief was astonished. The Villagers behind him also stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, I was scared. I've never fought before, and it was my first time seeing a creature like a snake with my own eyes," he said.

The Chief spoke. "But how could you be scared, Inikaka?"

The Chief asked.

"Why not? I am just a normal person, after all," Ning said.

"But, you are an omnipotent god, Inikaka," another Villager said.

"No, I am not omnipotent. I can only do a few things at most," Ning said.

"But you are still a god. How can a god not be omnipotent?" a woman asked.

"I told you, I am not omnipotent—"

"You are our Sun God, you should be able to easily defeat that demon, Inikaka," another Villager said.

"I'm too weak—"

"Inikaka! Why haven't you gotten rid of that demon yet?" a child asked.

Ning began to feel frustrated.

"I told you—"

"We can't defeat the demon alone, Inikaka. If you are waiting for us to defeat the demon ourselves, please don't do that, just kill it," an old woman said.

His frustration grew.

"I can—"

"Inikaka, you—"

"I am not Inikaka!!" Ning roared, "I am not Inikaka, I am just a normal person who has been deceiving you all this time, I am not a god, I am not even a human anymore, I am nothing."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately fell silent. In the silence, Ning finally realized what he had said. "Oh, no," he thought. He looked around, and everyone, including Hyesi, looked from surprise to shock, and finally to disbelief.

"Damn it, I'm done for, aren't I?" he thought. Before anyone could speak, he vanished from the scene. The Villagers were speechless, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Ning arrived at his potato farm, where the potatoes were ready for harvest. He was teleported near an empty space, so he sat on the ground and then lay on his back.

"Did that really happen?" he wondered. He was as incredulous as the Villagers, even more so. "Oh, dear, I ruined everything, didn't I?" he thought. "I couldn't even control my emotions, letting anger and annoyance get the better of me," he thought with a sigh.

"Oh, why did I do that?"

He felt very bad about the whole thing and wanted to do something to distract himself from the current situation. So, he began to harvest the ripe potatoes. He didn't use any abilities or skills.

He just took a hoe and started digging up the potatoes. He dug as slowly as possible to save time. After digging up all the potatoes, he continued to wash them. He again took as long as possible to wash them.

Then, he started to dig up the entire field, putting the remaining potato plants into the soil so they could rot and serve as fertilizer later.

Night fell, and the air grew cold. He picked up a few dry branches and lay down next to them. He lit the branches with Candlelight and lay there, enjoying the warmth. However, the ground he was lying on was neither soft nor did it give any warning.

Due to irregular gusts of wind during the night, the bonfire became unstable, and before Ning could do anything, the fire went out. "What bad luck," he thought.

He tried to stay a little longer where the fire was, but the cold was biting, and he had to leave. "Should I go back? I can't pretend nothing happened, can I? What should I say?" he began to wonder.

But now was not the time for answers. He needed a better shelter.

"Let's go back for now," he thought, and then teleported back.

"Ah, finally back," he said, lying on the soft ground of his home.

Now that he was back, Ning decided whether to cultivate or sleep, depending on his mood.

Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound outside.

"Inikaka, are you back?" a voice came from outside.

Ning was startled at first, but then realized he understood the voice and hesitated, asking, "Hui, Hyesi? What, what are you doing here?" "Ah, you're finally back, Inikaka. I've been waiting for you here since this morning. I thought you wouldn't come back today," Hyesi said happily.

"Why are you waiting for me?" Ning asked, "Also, I told you all this morning, I am not Inikaka, never have been, I'm just a fraud, nothing else." Ning started to feel depressed again.

"What is fraud?" Hyesi asked, she had never heard that word before.

"It's taking advantage of someone else's situation for your own benefit, like me, seeing your bad situation, I took advantage of you, made you do all sorts of things, for my own benefit, I did it just to leave this island as soon as possible," Ning said.

Hyesi quietly received this information and asked, "Then why haven't you done that yet?"